


Just Friends

by thunderstormsablaze



Category: All Elite Wrestling
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, I Tag That Too Much, Idiots in Love, Lack of Communication, M/M, Misunderstandings, Pining, but this time it's definitely true, it's a whole forest with all the pines, like a lot of pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 11:21:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30037929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thunderstormsablaze/pseuds/thunderstormsablaze
Summary: They're just friends, right? Then why does everyone keep thinking they're dating. Because they're not, aren't they?
Relationships: Dean Ambrose | Jon Moxley/Eddie Kingston
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Just Friends

Quiet groans of pain spill from the two men as they stumble to the bar, bones aching from the match they finished not an hour ago. It was easy to blow off the medical team, neither were too banged up from it, but their joints aren't as young as they once were. And they're feeling it now as they try to sit without pain, having to lean on each other for a moment to not topple off the bar stool. 

The bartender looks over and she smiles, "what can I get for you two tonight?" Eddie looks over at Jon, silently figuring out which one of them is going to be the more sober. Because that'll allow them to actually be sure they can make it to the hotel without much difficulty. 

"I'll take a whiskey on the rocks and he'll have a gin and tonic," Jon mumbles, rolling his eyes and punching Eddie in the shoulder. Reminding him they can't drink much since they took pain medicine not too long ago. It earns him a roll of the eyes, Eddie hates being responsible. But he supposes they need to not die early, so he'll listen to his friend. Just this once. 

She nods and makes them their drinks, setting the glasses in front of each of them before resting her elbows on the counter, looking at them. "Let me guess, married for two years, together for five." 

Eddie and Jon exchange an amused look, they've never been mistaken for husbands before. Especially not for ones who've been together for that long. Not really sure where that came from, maybe just from how close they're sitting. Eddie shakes his head and takes a sip of his drink, "sorry lady, we ain't married." 

"Really? Wow, sorry about that then. I could've sworn you were... I'll leave you to your drinks now, sorry again." She smiles with a faint blush and steps away, going over to another area of the counter to serve some other people who just walked in.

Jon laughs and shakes his head in amusement, swirling the whiskey in his glass before taking a sip. Stealing a glance at Eddie, it's absurd she thought they were partners. They're not dating, he would know if they were dating. At least he would know much better than some random bartender they've never met before. But he still feels an urge to clarify, "we're not dating."

"Of course not b, that's ridiculous." Eddie rolls his eyes and punches his shoulder as he drinks more. They're totally not dating, two guys can go get a drink and not be boyfriends. And knowing each other's drink preferences and being able to communicate through glances just comes with being friends. Friends do this all the time, so why is he overthinking this. 

Emotions he's shoved down for the many years of knowing Jon bubble to the surface, Eddie suddenly reminded of their existence thanks to their bartender. It's stupid, he shouldn't feel this sort of… attraction to one of his closest friends. One he knows doesn't return his feelings. If he can't have him romantically, he can at least have him platonically. That's good, Eddie likes it that way. He can't fuck up this friendship, so he shoves the feelings down, locking them away again.

Jon hates this, not nearly drunk enough to deal with these emotions. He tricked himself for years into not believing he's in love with Eddie, but now they had to come up again. And now he has to deal with trying to contain them now that he has them again. There's no way in hell Eddie loves him like that, and their bond isn't something he can break with silly romantic notions. 

They finish their drinks in a comfortable silence, conversations through small touches and glances. It's easy like this, their bond stronger than words. Eddie pays for them this time, the last time Jon did so it's his turn, that's how it works. Drinking enough together they don't really keep track of who owes what, they have a general idea of who's turn it is each time. 

It's a change being able to walk to the hotel, not tripping over their feet and almost falling over, drinks not clouding their judgement that badly. In fact, both of them actually like it. Though they know this is a one time thing, the next time they go to the bar not doped up on painkillers they'll stumble back drunk. After all what are a few more scrapes on their knees.

The keycard to their room enters easily, for once not spending minutes fumbling around to get it the correct way before they trudge into the room. Too wired still from the match to sleep, but too exhausted to really do anything about it. Jon makes his way to the shower as Eddie sits on the edge of his bed, checking out the bandages and making sure his wounds aren't in too bad shape after being out for a little.

Fifteen or so minutes later Jon emerges from the bathroom, towl slung around his waist as he digs through the pile of clean clothes in the corner for pants and a shirt. He returns to the bathroom to pull whatever he found on, only realizing when he sees what he's wearing the clothes aren't his. They're Eddies. But he's too exhausted to change again so he shrugs and walks out, it's just for a night and it's clean. Not really a big deal. Friends share clothes all the time.

Eddie spots him and rolls his eyes, a fond smile as he waves him over to the bed, turning on the TV to whatever mundane movie is on they can watch to destress. It lands on  _ Mama Mia! _ and he shrugs, letting the music play in the background as Jon lays beside him. A judgemental look which Eddie responds with a shrug, "guilty pleasures."

Jon nods in understanding and leans against Eddie, not following the plot of the movie at all, but it seems to make the other man happy. So he'll tolerate it for a while, it's not the worst thing he's seen, he can sit through the bright colours and cheery voices for a while. That's what friends do, suffer for the others amusement. 

It doesn't take long before sleep clings to both of them, exhaustion from the match and the safety they feel next to each other too much to fight. So even though there's a perfectly good second bed a few feet away, they drift off tangled in each other's arms, random cheesy rom coms filling the silence of the room. 

Eddie slowly blinks open his eyes, an unusual warmth pressed against his side. A quiet yawn, he rubs his eyes to get out the blurriness before looking over at the source of the odd feeling. When he sees it he laughs quietly, shaking his head in amusement. Jon clings to his arm with his head on his shoulder, breathing deeply, clearly still asleep.

Well now he can't get up, can't bring himself to wake Jon by moving. So he resigns himself to a morning in bed, at least until his friend wakes up. Eddie gets lost in thought for a while, a small part of him wondering how nice it would be to have this everyday, not just when they're on tour and too exhausted to split. But he knows he can't have it, no matter how much he wants it. Yet he still saves it to memory, something to savor for the next empty night.

It isn't until Jon's phone rings the other man wakes up, groaning and sleepily reaching over to answer it. Eddie can't hear what's being exchanged, but he definitely recognizes the look of panic in his friends eyes. A kick in the leg as Jon scrambles up, mumbling curses under his breath as he looks back at Eddie, "one of those creative meetings started five minutes ago, they want us there."

Eddie's eyes widen and he gets up, grabbing some clean clothes and changing into them as Jon does the same on the other side of the room. Both too panicked about getting to work to realize the shirts weren't from their suitcase. Soon they're out the door, energy drinks from the fridge in hand to help them wake up.

Upon arriving, they walk into the meeting room about twenty minutes late. Silently making their way to the open chairs, Kenny looks over at them with a small smirk. Eddie doesn't like the look of that, the blond with a knowing glint in his eyes. He shrinks into his seat, hoping to be able to avoid him for the most part afterwards, but they have to stay behind and talk to someone about what they missed.

The blond approaches and smiles, "congrats on finally getting together guys, but you couldn't have waited another week? Now me and Matt owe Nick fifty bucks." He teases, "but it's nice to see the lovesick pining looks are going to stop. It was driving us crazy. And be glad Nick didn't shove you in a closet together."

The men in question exchange a glance, "Kenny," Jon blushes, "we're not dating. I don't know why everyone keeps thinking we are, but I promise we're not together. If we were, I think I would know. And if Nick tried that, he'd get a black eye for his trouble" 

"Oh- I'm sorry I just assumed because you're wearing each other's shirts- I'll go now," Kenny blushes and nods, quickly leaving the room, tail between his legs. 

Eddie raises an eyebrow, "we're not wearing-" he looks down and sighs, seeing one of the shirts Jon often wears on him, "fuck." A quick glance towards his friend reveals one of his shirts, but a small possessive part of him likes it. Though he forces it to quiet down, there's nothing to act like that over. He doesn't have a claim to him. He laughs awkwardly, "uh…" 

Jon shrugs a little and laughs quietly, "I can't believe they keep thinking we're boyfriends… and Kenny of all people, he should know that we aren't. And who would've guessed they had a bet about it." He gets up and waits for Eddie to do the same, going their separate ways to take care of the things they need to do that day at work.

Jon's usual avoidance tactic of work isn't as effective as usual, he hates it. Eddie just keeps coming to mind, the emotions he thought he locked down slipping through the cracks. Because he can't make it awkward, not while it's so good to be friends. If he ruined this it would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Why did Kenny have to be so… Kenny. Eddie huffs, going through the motions of what he has to do all while cursing the blond. Nothing about them screams dating, except maybe the shirts, but that's an honest mistake. A lot of the other guys share shirts, so what's the big deal about them doing it. 

Somehow they find themselves back at the bar that evening, getting their drinks from the same bartender as the previous night. She looks between them as she hands over the drinks, "you sure you aren't dating? I'm not judging or anything, you're cute together." 

This time a longer pause before Jon shakes his head, "sorry if you had a bet on it or something, but we're just good friends. Honest." A small voice in his head wants him to say they're dating but he shoves it down, it wouldn't do them any good. Would only scare Eddie off, and Jon can't stand the thought of that.

She nods slowly and looks at them one last time before leaving to serve more drinks, leaving the men to sit in their thoughts. They can't be fucking dating, that would involve actually going on dates with romantic intentions. And the other doesn't feel that way about it, not like he wants him to. 

A few hours and drinks later, Jon puts down some money as they both get up to return to their room. Opening the door, the words of the bartender and Kenny creep into their minds. Too loud to silence, even though they don't have any merit behind them. Right?

Each night they make a point of going out for dinner together, have the others phone number memorized, keep the others spare set of keys with them, and bicker nonstop. They share a hotel room, know each other's drink and food orders, can communicate without words, share clothes, only use one bed, and only have one tube of toothpaste in the bathroom. 

Eddie and Jon turn to face each other, realization crashing over them like waves, "fuck… we're dating."

**Author's Note:**

> Nick got that $100.


End file.
